Installing old app versions as beta tester for migration testing - google-developers-console

In our app we updated the database from one version to another.
Now for testing I want to jump between older versions that were officially released at some point in time.
In the Android developer console we can find the previous releases under
Production / Tab "Releases" / Section "Release history" / Dropdown "Show"
and a direct installation link for internal testers under
Blue rightarrow "Details" of the version to install / Section "App Bundles" / Blue rightarrow "Details" of the desired APK / Tab "Downloads" / Link "Copy Sharable link"
The link looks like this:
https://play.google.com/apps/test/<name.of.my.app>/<release versionCode number>
Now if I open this link on my target device (where "Internal app sharing" is activated in the settings) one of two things can happen:
a) everything works fine:
Google offers me to install the old app version with the hint
This version of this app (<versionCode number>) may be old. Turn off auto-update for this app to keep it from getting updated.
b) I get the following notification:
You're an internal tester. This app may be unsecure or unstable.
In this case, the most recent version available to internal testers (typically the future version) is installed.
I have several different Google accounts for alpha testers, and all of them are listed in the same group (Email list) under Testing / Internal testing / Testers
All accounts are in "developer mode" in the Play store and have "Internal app sharing" active in the Play store settings
I typically uninstall old app versions before clicking on the APK link which I sent to my tester accounts via Email
I have several phones with various Android versions, screen sizes etc. I could not recognize a deterministic pattern for ending up in situation "b)"
How can I install the older versions when the second situation "b)" appears?

Related

Is it possible to choose which build on test flight you want to use?

I have various groups for test flight:
1) Internal Testers
2) Employees
3) Beta Testers
We first distribute to all devs via Internal Testers, once we believe it is stable enough, we release to the entire company for further testing and notes, which is Employees, and finally we release to all of our Beta Testers.
It would be very nice however, to be able to alternate between versions, e.g. say the latest version 7, which is for Internal Testers, fixed a lot of bugs, e.g. validations, but unknowingly, version 6 is broken for Employees and Beta Testers. Is it possible, if you are part of the Internal Testers that are testing version 7, to revert/test version 6 and see if these changes had any breaking changes?
Yes, in the TestFlight App, tap on the app icon and then select "Previous Builds".
You will then see a list of previous versions that you have been given access to test. Select the relevant version and then select "install" next to the build of that version that you wish to install.
If you have a known "bad build" you can expire it from the TestFlight page in AppStoreConnect to prevent it from being re-installed.

How to discard older build while Fabric distribution?

I have a problem with automated build distribution thru Fabric Beta with concurrent uploading.
For example I starting upload of first build and 5 seconds after it I starting upload second one. But because Internet is a magic-unstable-box the second build have uploads before the first build. And it's treated as first build is newer then second. But it's not true.
So I want to discard older (first) build when I uploading newer one.
Or I want some other workaround for my situation.
Mike from Fabric here. There is not an automated way within Fabric to stop the upload once it's started. You can manually remove versions via the app's settings page. From the documentation:
To remove, a specific version of your app, head to your app’s settings. Select the app whose name you want to change and click on the “Versions” button. After that, select the toggle on any build or version you want to disable. Disabling a version prevents new crash reports from flowing in, hides it from the version filter, and prevents beta testers from installing that version.

Xcode 8, Multiple accounts (1 for enterprise, 1 for app store) and signing issue

I have an account that I use to do all my App Store builds. My apps main bundle id is registered in this account. I also have an app group setup for this bundle id. I have all the provisioning profiles and certificates and it works fine.
I have another account - an enterprise account that I use to distribute my app internally in my company. The bundle id for this app has an extra component (.ent) suffixed to the bundle id to distinguish it from the main app (even though most of the code is the same). This app also has an app group setup in this account with an extra component (.ent) added to the end of the app group id. The provisioning profile and certificates are all setup correctly for this too.
This setup worked fine for me until Xcode 8. I had different entitlements indicating the bundle id, group etc and I chose the provisioning profile for the enterprise build separately (for the same target) by creating a different scheme and assigning it there. All this worked fine upto Xcode 7. When I upgraded to Xcode 8 I tried to switch to "Automatically manage signing" but that did not help because there are 2 teams involved - one for the app store build and one for the enterprise build. Xcode couldn't figure that out. I switched to manually setting each provisioning profile but for the Enterprise scheme signing, Xcode now gives me this error : "Provisioning Profile (enterprise profile) doesn't support the group (main app group).
I have also set the "Development Team" setting in the "Build Settings" tab separately for app store and enterprise. I have also set the "Code Signing Entitlements" in the build settings separately for the 2 builds. I have also set the "Info.plist file" in "Build Settings" separately. Inspite of all this Xcode 8 still doesn't figure out that the app group is different and gives me this build error and eventually fails to sign the enterprise build.

How to handle Google Play version increment and IAB testing

Our product version follows Semantic Versioning with an extra digit for build package identification:
major.minor.patch.build
The first 3 parts are for source code versioning, depending on API compatibility and bug fixes (patches). The last part is to keep track of multiple build packages. Multiple builds can happen with no source code changes (therefore no changes to major.minor.patch). Reasons for multiple builds are numerous all relating specifically to Android APK packaging (such Icons missing/changed, minSDKVersion increases, permission changes, SDK updates, descriptor-file changes [we are using AIR], etc)
Unfortunately, Google Play does not recognize this 4-part version. It only recognizes the first 3 parts. Example:
2.3.1.1 - Uploaded, received warning about SDK/API min version mismatch.
2.3.1.2 - No source code changes, only bumped minSDKVersion in manifest.
As far as Google Play is concerned, both are version 2.3.1 (2003001)
Why does it matter?
In order to test In-App-Billing (IAB) purchases, a version has to be published to Alpha (or Beta or Production). Once published, you cannot upload another APK without incrementing the version. As far as we are concerned, we are incrementing the version, but Google doesn't recognize that. For us, to bump the patch number when there were no source code changes is stupid and goes against the company versioning scheme which spans many more platforms then just Google Play.
So what to do for IAB testing?
- We distribute APKs to QA internally (not through Google Play), however we are still required to publish an APK to Alpha in order to test IAB.
- Without publishing an APK with increased version number, IAB testing errors out (APK version on device cannot be higher than the latest uploaded APK in Google Play)
How do others handle this?

Xcode 5: Code signing entitlement errors

I've build a new application which is going to support IOS 7. I got the new XCode 5 GM and tried to sign my apps using my fresh provisioning profile and distribution certificate, but i'm having trouble with distribution. I constantly get the following error:
"Invalid Code Signing Entitlements. The entitlements in your app
bundle signature do not match the ones that are contained in the
provisioning profile. According to the provisioning profile, the
bundle contains a key value that is not allowed:
'[XXXX.com.sample.company ]' for the key 'keychain-access-groups".
Also the same error for a key value called application-identifier.
Screenshot of the errror:
The solution lies in the new option in Xcode 5 which says provisioning profile. Just set the project target's provisioning profile to the right one and it'll work.
If you are like me and you think you tried EVERYTHING, archived your project over ten times, banged your head on the keyboard and still get this error. Please do yourself a favor and simply Restart XCode, it worked for me. Sometime Apple... I hate you.
I went through many of the steps above but what finally worked for me was refreshing my profiles in Xcode. Not sure why it was necessary since my app's distribution profile was showing up in the list already. Here are the steps:
Xcode Preferences
Accounts tab
Select your Apple ID
Hit the View Details button in the Apple ID detail panel
Hit the Refresh button in the lower left corner
In my case, i activated the same capabilities in Xcode that in Application services in developer.apple.com. Thats works for me
In my case (sorry) I switched "Team" to "None" in -> General -> Identity
In another case I needed to switch this identity from "None" to the developer account managing the identities and profiles.
Xcode sometimes messes up greatly with code signing, it seems. Or, we mere mortals simply aren't clever enough to understand what it is doing, of course. Don't give up, we're all going through some code signing torture at times!
In my case, I had to set correct Provision Profile for Release, and then had to restart Xcode. Before restarting, it had same provision profile, and didn't work. So, sometimes a restart can do miracles. Maybe this helps somebody.
If someone uses a GameCenter then check this section in your target. I worked with some old project and there were 2 errors (but everything worked fine). Disabling and enabling it back solved this problem.
Most likely this action adds Game Center entitlement to App ID and and handle it itself.
1.Go to project folder, delete *.entitlements files.
2.Then go yo in xcode project target -> build settings -> code signing entitlements - delete values
3.Clean
4.Run
Ah, this glorious error. For me whenever I see this error I check the following things:
1. Allow XCode to access your provisioning profile info all the time - If XCode keeps asking when you start it up to have access to your computer's private files so that it can get provisioning profile information with the options to allow access always, not now, or just one time - set it to ALWAYS ALLOW access
2. If you have any old entitlement files kicking around your project get rid of them and any sign of them - if you see a .entitlements file in your project delete it (or at least remove the reference to it if you aren't sure you are ready to outright delete it), then make sure the 'Code Signing Entitlements' line under the 'Code Signing' section in Build Settings is empty
3. Check your Application Services online and match them up with your Services in XCode for the app - Go to the Apple Member Center and check the App ID for your app, click on the app to see its 'Application Services' and see what you have checked, then go to XCode and check your 'Capabilities' section to make sure the two have the same list of Apple services on both
4. Make sure you assign a valid Provisioning Profile to your app before validating - double check your provisioning profile for your app in the Apple Member Center, make sure it isn't expired, has the right App ID with the correct bundle id and distribution. Download and click on the new provisioning profile to make sure XCode has it, or go to XCode > Preferences > Accounts > click on your account and 'View Details' then click the bottom corner button to Sync all the profiles to XCode. You should have the profile available to select now in the 'Code Signing' section. Once you have the correct provisioning profile then you can set the 'Code Signing Identity' lines to the correct option for that provisioning profile.
Note - if doing a distribution certificate it can help to set all the 'Code Signing Identity' lines to the identity you use for distribution including the debug lines
5. IF ALL ELSE FAILS - Clean your project and Restart XCode and some Apple magic may just work fine the next time you open your project and try to Validate
If you're building an old 3.1.5 project, Xcode 5 has some bugs which unfortunately makes Benjamin's answer impossible, as there are no Provisioning profiles to pick from. After many a late hour of tormented reading of Xcode project files I came up with this solution that worked for me:
In the Utilities pane (to the right) in Xcode 5, under project Document, change from Xcode 3.1-compatible to Xcode 3.2 compatible.
Enter your organization name.
Close project.
Open your project file, e.g. open -a TextEdit path/to/name.xcodeproj/project.pbxproj
Remove the two Distribution clauses (isa=XCBuildConfiguration).
Remove the two accompanying lines in buildConfiguration (one in PBXNativeTarget and one in PBXProject XCConfigurationLists)
Now you're ready to re-open, archive and submit to App store - voilà! It works again!
How I think it works
I assume this works because Apple somewhere along the line decided to drop the need for any separate distribution config, which is a good thing. When I archive, Xcode automatically code signs for distribution. That's the way it should have been implemented in the first place, it's just a shame that Apple can't make auto-migration part of the IDE; instead they force us developers to spend man-decades to make this stuff work.
I have been struggling with this problem for more than a day now, trying all kinds of solutions suggested here and elsewhere on the internet. Nothing worked...
But, I finally managed to solve the problem!
The problem I had was with an old app that I haven't touched in over 3 years, and now I was about to release a long awaited update. Since the time I released the app, Apple has been updating how the certificates and App Id works. They have introduced the concept of Team Id which seems to be recommended to use.
In particular, the Apple's "Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles" site, has seen a lot of changes since then.
There I realized that the Provisioning Profile I was using for App Store Distribution were connected to the App Id ED8xxxxxxx.com.rostsolutions.* but looking at the App Id for the game I was about to submit I notice that the App Id was ATMxxxxxxx.com.rostsolutions.Swisch. So the App Id prefix did not match!
That seemed to be the root of the problem. So what I did was to create a new Provisioning Profile connected to the App Id ATMxxxxxxx.com.rostsolutions.Swisch instead. Using that Provisioning Profile I successfully submitted my app to App Store and now I just keep my fingers crossed that everything else works fine at Apple's side.
(I first tried to connect to new Provisioning profile to the wildcard Id ATMxxxxxxx.com.rostsolutions.* instead, but that didn't seem to work).
But what puzzles me is that when I look at the old App in iTunes Connects and goes to Binary Details, it says that the App Id is ED8xxxxxxx.com.rostsolutions.Swisch. So why is the "Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles" page listing the App Id as ATMxxxxxxx.com.rostsolutions.Swisch?
My problem was solved by removing my Apple ID from Preferences->Accounts and then adding it back again. Then all my provisioning profile files showed up on the View Details utility panel. I was mistakenly choosing "Mac Team Provisioning Profile:*" instead of the actual distribution provisioning profile for the project thinking that it was a generic selection. Provisioning files must be specific to the project. Oh, and BTW, make sure your provisioning profile has the correct entitlements (for example, Maps). I managed to release an app with OSX Maps without the entitlement and Apple approved it -- but no Maps showed up on the production version!
In my case, I had the same problem, my solution was to change the 'Release Provisioning Profile' in the Build Settings before doing Archive. I do this twice, once for App Store distribution, and another one for Ad Hoc distribution. I also add a comment on my archives. My conclusion is that there is something broken about the "archive re-signature".
There is a very good tutorial for solving that problem on this website.
It says that this problem can occur when your Projects Bundle Identifier is different to the one you entered on the iTunes Connect Website.
I think xcode 5 uses "release" instead of "distribution" that you may created yourself.
If all above didn't work (in my case after couple of days no luck trying everything) I have only one Mac application. BE CAREFULL WITH REVOKE!
1) Revoke by hand all "Mac App Distribution" & "Mac Installer Distribution"
2) Clean relevant certificates and open-keys in Keychain (Warning: export before delete)
3) Restart Xcode
4) Go to (in Safari) developer.apple.com -> certificates etc.
5) Create CertificateSigningRequest.certSigningRequest in Keychain->Certificate assistant
6) Create by hand on developer.apple.com both "Mac App Distribution" & "Mac Installer Distribution" with your *.certSigningRequest
7) Provisioning Profiles -> Distribution -> create/fix custom provision for AppStore (I'm specially named it as "Mac provision profile for AppStore"
8) Xcode -> Settings -> Account -> Your account -> Refresh
9) Xcode Clean -> Archive -> Validate
I have been struggling with similar problem (I was building for Ad-Hoc distribution). Only thing that has changed since last successful deploy, was adding two devices to provisioning profile.
After double- and triple- checking all build settings, I regenerated provisioning profile (without changing anything), re-downloaded and it worked fine.
So note to self: if there is no logic explanation, you can always try good old IT voodoo.
I also recommend iPhone Configuration Utility, which despite its name, is useful for checking what provisioning profiles you have on computer.
ERROR ITMS-9000: “This bundle is invalid. New apps and app updates submitted to the App Store must be built with public (GM) versions of XCode 5.1.1 or higher and iOS 7 SDK. Do not submit apps built with beta software.
If multiple developers are using the same member center account. One of them can't use a certificate created by others cause they used a certificate request created using their computers.
You need to use a certificate created by you (certificate request
created using your computer).
Alternative, told them to send you the Developer Profile. not sure of the name. to use a certificate created on another computer.
Code signing Entitlements occur because of your resource does not contain Entitlements file in resources,Just go to build setting and search code signing Entitlements delete entry for debug and release, build project again you will see there is no error. Cheers
I had the same problem, but nothing written here worked for me. However, I found a simple way that worked for me. Here's how to do it:
1) In your Project and your Target(s) build settings, choose "None" for all Provisioning profiles, and choose "Don't Code Sign" for all Code Signing Identities.
2) Now, choose your Target and go to build settings. In Code Signing Identity Release setting, choose "iOS Distribution" for "Any iOS SDK". And then, in Provisioning Profile Release setting, choose your distribution profile for "Any iOS SDK". After that your Code Signing Identity Release setting should automatically change to "iPhone Distribution".
3) Archive your build and validate. Now it should work fine. That's it!